The Alabama Frozen Tide hockey team celebrates its Iron Cup victory at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena over the weekend. The team defeated Auburn 9-1, 3-0 and 13-1 to win the trophy. (Cheryl Wray | cwray@al.com)Picasa

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Members of the Frozen Tide hockey team are avid Alabama football fans--which made this weekend's domination of cross-state rival Auburn in the annual Iron Cup extra-special.

The tournament's MVP, sophomore forward Bryan Puffer, said that the team was as disappointed by the football team's defeat at the hands of Auburn this season as any other Tide fan. And that's why the hockey players wanted to be dominant in their victories.

For the weekend, Puffer led the Tide with four goals--including a hat trick in Sunday's game--and six assists.

Puffer said that the team's performance this weekend was important not only to show Auburn what they could do, but also to improve their rankings. Those rankings are important as they approach the end of the season and post-season play.

"Whenever you play Auburn, it's easy to get motivated, and we wanted to really come in and dominate," he said. "Now we need to continue it as we play our next games. We need these kinds of wins for the standings."

The Frozen Tide is currently ranked fifth in the American Collegiate Hockey Association's (ACHA) South Regional rankings; the ACHA will release its updated regional rankings later this week. With games against Ole Miss, Georgia and Central Florida to finish out the season, Puffer said the team still has work to do.

"We split our games with Ole Miss earlier in the season, and both went to shootouts," he said. "And Central Florida is a really good team, ranked first or second."

All remaining games will be played in Pelham. Alabama will play Ole Miss Friday, Jan. 24, at 8 p.m.; Georgia Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m.; and Central Florida Friday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m.